LeBron James just lost for the fifth time in the NBA Finals as the Golden State Warriors won Game 5 129-120. He won three total rings (one with his Cleveland squad last season and twice in 2012 and 2013 with the Miami Heat). However, despite playing with two other All-Stars on both of those teams he is convinced that he has somehow never played for a "super team."
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LeBron "I've never been on a super team, this isn't a super team" pic.twitter.com/9u2FERk33e
— Gifdsports (@gifdsports) June 13, 2017
So James is saying that playing with two All-Stars in Kyrie Irving —- a former No. 1 overall pick —- and Kevin Love as well as superior role players like JR Smith, Iman Shumpert, Tristan Thompson and Kyle Korver does not constitute a "super team" in this day and age. Irving was probably the third-best player in the series behind Kevin Durant and James. You could even argue that Love was the fourth-best considering how poorly Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson played for stretches there.
Apparently him starting "The Heatles" and reigniting the "Big 3" movement wasn't him joining a super team either. It's not like he was playing with a former NBA Champion in Dwyane Wade and an All-Star in Chris Bosh. He also had a similar supporting cast in Ray Allen, Chris Andersen, James Jones, Mario Chalmers, Shane Battier, and Rashard Lewis. So his claim of not playing on a super team seems pretty invalid.
James also threw some serious shade at his teammates and the effort they gave throughout the series with this telling quote:
LeBron: "For me personally, I left everything on the floor every game, all 5 games. So for me personally I've no reason to put my head down"
— Rachel Nichols (@Rachel__Nichols) June 13, 2017
He used the phrase "for me personally" twice just to make sure he separated himself from the team. That's not a good look even after a tough series loss like this for James. It's his fifth time experiencing it so he probably should have known to be a little more careful with his words.